Ideas, thoughts and ways we can all share to live more sustainable lives and loosen our dependency upon plastics.

Friday, 3 September 2010

Global depository for images of beached marine plastic objects

Britain's coastline is one of the more inspiring aspects of our environment, yet due to the large amounts of plastic washed ashore daily, this coastline is becoming increasingly polluted.

Steve McPherson is an artist who has created an online participatory art project, in an attempt to raise awareness of the problem. His site Marine Plastic, is inviting beachcombers to help document those places where plastic waste is spoiling the shoreline

Steve says that he wants the project to be a place where anyone can add images of plastic objects found by mainly other foragers and beach combers from around the world. "I intend it to be a space to hold not just the images of the lost and found objects, but also to record the names of those who find them, and the date and location of the find."

"With no definitive end, and as long as participants still keep submitting images, the bank of objects will grow, as will I hope an awareness of the enormity of the plastic pollution of our worldwide oceans.

"My long term aim will be to use the images deposited on this website in a real world exhibition and publication, where all contributions would be credited and recognised."

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A short clip to make you weep!

What an Albatros chick eats these days!

Lobma means disciple in Tibetan, or more specifically disciple of the dharma. Dharma means 'the way,' or reality. Reality isn't exclusive to Buddhism, most of the
World’s major religions have a mystical strand running through them; there are mystic paths within Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. Buddhism however does offer a quicker and more direct method of dealing with the sufferings that beset mankind.
My eyes were opened to the journey, by my now deceased master, Karma Tashi Thundrup, whose deep compassion, awareness and humility were a continuous source of comfort during many days of bewilderment, whilst swimming in the ocean of sorrow that is samsara.
I associate deeply with the Kagupta School of Tibetan Buddhism and have a keen appreciation of the Dzogchen, Mahamudra and Rinzei Zen traditions of awakening.
May all beings be free from sorrow and the causes of sorrow, and may all beings live in eternal happiness, which is sorrow less.

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Sites to Watch

The life cycle of a plastic bag

We are the world!

Welcome

I've been aware of the dangers posed by plastic to the environment for a while now. But it was whilst watching a video clip which showed graphically the effects the stuff is having in our oceans, that inspired me to create this blog. I hope that you will feel able to contribute in some way, either by adding comments or sending pieces for me to post. We won't rid the earth of plastic over night, but we can make our voices heard, so those who produce this highly versatile yet dangerous material, will begin to question the logic of manufacturing a product that takes hundreds of years to break down and which is filling our rivers, oceans, and fields with its detritus, causing millions of wild creatures to suffer painful deaths. We can but try to lessen our dependency on the stuff!

Some Sobering Plastic Facts

To clean the oceans, you'd need to fill 630 oil supertankers to the brim at a cost of about $56,000 per each a day to charter To give an example of how long plastic lasts in the ocean. In 2001 a piece of plastic found in an albatross stomach bore a serial number that was traced to a World War II seaplane shot down in 1944 (US Fish & Wildlife)

All plastic breaks down into particles.It does not dissolve; it just breaks into tiny pieces and stays there. At this size it is small enough to be ingested by every single organism in the world's oceans - animals as small as krill and salps (plankton feeders) right up to the great Blue Whale.

It's estimated that over 10's of thousands of seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic debris (including domestic waste and disused fishing gear) and about 100,000 seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and sea turtles suffer the same fate, although some scientists believe this figure to be much higher. (DNR) (Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission)

UK beaches have on average 2000 pieces of litter for every kilometer. (MCS)However this average is only given to larger items.The number of plastic particles (small plastic pieces) on a beach in just one square foot can range from hundreds to thousands in some of the worst polluted area's. (Thompson) (Algalita)

The world produces over 200 million tonnes plastic annually. Around half of this is used for disposable items of packaging that are discarded within a year. This debris is accumulating in landfill and the problem is growing. (Thompson).

Since the 1950's almost every piece of plastic that we have ever made, used and thrown away is still here on this planet in one form or another, whether its in our homes, in landfill or in the environment; and it will be here for centuries to come.

An estimated 17 billion plastic bags are given away annually by United Kingdom supermarkets-enough plastic to cover an area the size of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and west Yorkshire combined.

On average we only recycle 1 plastic bag in every 200 we use. (londoncouncils.gov.uk)

10 Million TONS of Plastic Rubbish Floating In the Pacific

If you should see this amazing floating pile of plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean, it's called "The Great Pacific Garbage Patch." It features three million tons of plastic debris floating in an area larger than Texas. An eye-popping 46,000 pieces of plastic float on every square mile of ocean! Humans toss another 2.5 million pieces into our oceans hourly. Independent News

A mad mad world!

"Western companies pay Chinese workers crap wages, to make crap plastic products then ship them to Europe to wrap them in more plastic. Punters drive to out of town mega stores in their gas-guzzlers and buy those plastic products in plastic boxes and carry them home in plastic bags. Two days later the product is broken and goes back to china in a land fill, where it stays for about 50,000 years" From the film, The Age of Stupid.